Title IX

I've always thought of Title IX as something just having to do with sports; until last night, I had never realized it could have to do with sexual assault as well. Last night we discussed how Title IX could be used against college campuses that don't do anything about sexual assault because victims can say that the school is in violation of Title IX because the learning environment for men and women is not equal because women on campus live in fear of being assaulted, which takes away from their education. I think it's good that women who have been assaulted can use Title IX against a school, but, at the same time, it sucks that they need to, because that means the school isn't doing anything about sexual assault.

I thought the article we read about how sexual assault accusations affect the men accused was interesting. It talked about how an accusation of sexual assault can completely change a man's life, especially if it's false. However, in the movie we watched, it said that the rate of false report of sexual assault or rape is like 2%, which is the same for any other crime. So, the vast majority of the time, the victims are telling the truth. I get where the article is coming from, it would be terribly to be falsely accused, but, again according to the movie, in 300 or so reported cases of sexual assault or rape, only about 2 of the offenders are actually disciplined, so even if someone is falsely accused, the chances of something actually being done about it are slim to none. Also, the article talked about how an accusation of sexual assault could ruin a man's life, but what about the girls who are assaulted or raped? Are their lives not ruined? In the case when a man is actually convicted of sexual assault, yea it's going to affect his life in a negative way, but isn't that ok? I mean, whoever he assaulted or raped, he affected her life in a negative way, so doesn't he deserve to be punished?

Before this seminar, I knew that the vast majority rapes and sexual assaults on college campuses were not reported, but I didn't realize that nothing was really done about the vast majority that were reported. Sexual assault is serious, and hardly anyone falsely reports, but schools still deny that they're not doing anything about it, and men still get away with it. However, I'm glad the two girls in the video got together and used Title IX against their school to take a step forward in reducing the amount of sexual assault on college campuses and increasing the rate of punishment for those who sexually assault and/or rape.